West Milford inks new trash disposal contract

Township representatives made short work of a new garbage disposal contract last week.

Last Wednesday, West Milford’s Township Council approved a new five-year contract with Waste Management of New Jersey for the disposal of bulk and household waste following a brief discussion.

According to former interim Township Administrator Robert Casey, the proposals from all three bidders were considerably less costly than predicted last spring. Local officials were expecting per ton disposal costs to rise 5 or 10 percent.

"In the budget discussions we were assuming an increase," Casey said. "Well, we were totally wrong on that. The reality is we got bids that were less than what we are currently paying, and the bids hold good for five years at that lower rate."

The contract will start with a $68 per ton disposal cost, or tipping fee, and increase by 50 cents each year to top out at $70 in 2018-19, Casey said. The current contract’s average disposal cost is $1.75 more per ton at $70.75.

The not-to-exceed $3,451,250 deal will start on Sept. 1 and run through Aug. 31, 2019.

On Wednesday, the governing body also authorized a new contract for the marketing of recyclables with current vendor Trinity Recycling of New Jersey. That contract guarantees rates for paper products based on a percentage of daily Official Board Markets prices. The rates range from 93 percent of the rate for cardboard to 112 percent of the rate for newspaper, Casey said. In addition, he said there is a minimum overall rebate of $51 per ton to preserve a revenue stream amid any negative market fluctuations.

The 15-month recycling deal does not provide the township with any rebates for glass, aluminum, and plastic. However, there will be no disposal fees for those co-mingled recyclables. The contract starts in December and has a pair of one-year extension options.

"If the market changes dramatically, there is the option to opt out," Casey said.

Single-steam recycling, which negates the need to separate paper from plastic, was considered as an option for the current contract cycle, according to Department of Public Works Director Joseph Clementi. However, township officials determined the additional costs to both dispose of the recyclables and truck them to a center that accepts single-stream deposits were not justifiable.

"The contractor wants to charge us $15 a ton to take it away, whereas (with) the traditional method, we get paid," Clementi said. "I think people, especially in our town, are very good about recycling and are very good about separating. That really isn’t a problem."

The township’s recyclable and garbage collection contracts are being prepared for bid next month, Casey said. The current contracts are set to expire in December and the bid process takes about four months, he said. Among other options, the local government is considering adding a second appliance pickup day each month.

The current five-year collection contract with Waste Management is costing the township an average of $1,148,805 per year, $421,353 of which is dedicated to the collection of recyclables.